Games for AAC userswww.papunet.net/games

Kimmo Kyyhkynen, Marianna Ohtonen, Maija Ylätupa

Papunet Web Service Unitwww.papunet.net

The Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

ISAAC 2008 ConferenceMontreal

Main topics

• Papunet Web Service Unit in brief

• Papunet website

• Game Pages– Background – User interface– Content

• The Papunet Web Service Unit promotes accessible and equitablecommunication

• Papunet was established in 2001 and it is funded by Finland's Slot Machine Association

• The unit develops and produces accessible web services for people withspeech impairments, users of plain language, their families and other peoplethey interact with and professionals in the field

• The unit produces the Papunet website and technically maintains variouswebsites of operators in the field

• The unit also offers training and consultation on accessible web services and performs accessibility assessments of websites from the perspective of people with speech impairments and users of plain language.

Papunet Web Service Unit in brief

The Papunet website contains pages in

• standard language • plain language • bliss language and • pages with symbols and• games

Some of the contents include synthetic speech support

Some content also in English and in Swedish

Usability tests since 2003

No registration, free for use

The Papunet websitewww.papunet.net

Papunet Game pages

• The Game pages contain free games aimed at children, youngsters and adults who use AAC or use the computer in different ways.

• The contents and user interface of the site have been developed in co-operation with the users.

• The contents of the pages have been first developed in Finnish and most of them have also been translated into both English and Swedish

– www.papunet.net/games– www.papunet.net/pelit– www.papunet.net/spel

Papunet Game pages

• The goal has been – to create an easy-to-use environment that can serve not only as

pastime entertainment but also as a tool for rehabilitation or teaching AAC.

– to provide an open, easy-to-access environment for practicing the use of computers and the Internet for disabled people who may later use computers

• Designed and implemented at the Papunet Web Service Unit – multiprofessional team consisting of speech therapists,

occupational therapists, graphic designers and programmers• All the games, exercises and stories can be used with a regular

mouse, but most of them are also designed to be operable with a switch interface. They can be controlled with the enter and spacebar keys, which can in turn be mapped to switches.

Papunet Game pagesHistory

• First opened in Finnish 08/2003• Completely usability tested during 2004• The redesigned version opened 03/2006• English and Swedish versions opened 04/2007

Papunet Game pagesThe redesign

• Initiated by usage experience and user feedback on the old version of the pages

• Based on the results of the usability tests performed during 2004– The user interfaces of the old pages and games were tested with

real users

• The overall user interface of the site was totally changed• The user interfaces of the games were unified to have a

consistent look and feel– The placement of the common controls was unified– All the icons and textual terms were standardized

Papunet Game pagesThe redesign, site navigation

• All the content was regrouped to new, more logical categories

• Large, visually clear links to subcategories and games, no large text masses

• The features of the games represented with icons, easily accessible game help

OLD

NEW

Papunet Game pagesNavigation comparison, old vs. new version

Papunet Game pagesThe redesign, game UI

• Unified placing for the common game controls

• Standardized icons and textual terms

Papunet Game pagesGame UI comparison, old vs. new version

Papunet Game pagesThe redesign, reception

• With the redesign, giving feedback was also made more easy– New game ideas are received through feedback constantly, some

of them have also been realized– New translations into other languages are requested frequently– Quality assurance; every feedback will be answered in 3-4 days

• After the redesigned version opened, the number of visitors has more than doubled

• Nearly 2/3 of all visitors spend more than 5 minutes at a time on the Game pages

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Papunet Game pagesVisitors

• Quarterly visitors on Finnish Game pages

Redesigned version opened

The contents and the categorizationin the Game pages

Contents based on user’s age group

About the features of the games

• Operated with the mouse or switches (spacebar & enter)

• Possibility to choose– level of difficulty– length of exercise– speech support– settings for the visual

appearance

Feedback on the exercise

• Immediate sound feedback

• Possibility to check throughand revise exercise

• Final result as scoresor time spent

The games offer ways to practice

• The symbols used in AAC• PCS, Bliss, Rebus and Pictograms

The games offer ways to practice

• Understanding ofwritten or spokenlanguage

The games offer ways to practice

• Visuoconstructive skills • Eye-hand-coordination

The games offer ways to practice

• Auditory and visual information processing skills

The games offer ways to practice

• Understanding of causal relations

The games offer ways to practice

• Concentration, attention and timing

The games offer ways to practice

• Memory and logic skills

The games offer participation

• The Drawing program & gallery• save drawings in own files or gallery• send drawings as an e-card

The games offer participation

• Planet X -game environment

The games offer participation Users in the designing process

• Planet X –game environment designed with grade-schoolers

• Game ideas and usability tests

Future of the Game pages?

• New games every year – Virtual shop– Illustrated, interactive stories – More contents into existing games

• Further development of the user interface– Gathering user information and performing

usability tests

• Possibly new versions in more languages

Questions?

More information:

Papunet Web Service Unitwww.papunet.net

Kimmo KyyhkynenICT Coordinatorkimmo.kyyhkynen@kvl.fi

Marianna OhtonenManager of Network Servicesmarianna.ohtonen@kvl.fi

Maija YlätupaWeb Editormaija.ylatupa@kvl.fi